Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao inaugurated Hyderabad Metro Rail services between Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) and Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) at around 5 pm on Friday. The CM was accompanied by Deputy CM Mahmood Ali, ministers KT Rama Rao, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Padma Rao Goud and others. Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy skipped the event.
After flagging off the train, the CM and the delegates took a ride till MGBS.
The length of this corridor is 11 km. The JBS-MGBS corridor has nine stations which include Parade Grounds, Secunderabad West, Gandhi Hospital, Musheerabad, RTC Crossroads, Chikkadpally, Narayanguda, Sultan Bazaar and MGBS. The JBS-MGBS route is part of the corridor II from JBS to Falaknuma. With this, the metro has completed phase I of the project. The total length of the Hyderabad Metro Rail is now 69 kilometres.
According to Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited officials, it would just take 16 minutes to cover the stretch between JBS to MGBS on the metro as opposed to 45 minutes by road.
The JBS-MGBS route is part of corridor II from JBS to Falaknuma.
The trial runs on this route commenced on November 25, 2019. Last month, Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) had issued the safety certificate after inspecting the corridor. In March 2019, a 10-km stretch of Hyderabad Metro Rail between Ameerpet and Hi-Tec City was inaugurated and subsequently in November 2019, another 1.5 km stretch of Metro Rail Corridor-III between Hitec City station and Raidurg was inaugurated.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, had expressed his displeasure with the HMRL for not beginning the services between Darulshifa to Falaknuma and MGBS to Falaknuma. Asaduddin claimed that metro works in his constituency did not commence yet because of fund shortage, but this line has been hit with problems pertaining to land acquisition.
Metro services in Hyderabad began in 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 30 km stretch (between Miyapur and Nagole) out of the 72 km long elevated Hyderabad Metro Rail project. Subsequently in September 2018, another 16-km stretch of Hyderabad Metro between Ameerpet to L B Nagar was commissioned.